3 Questions for a Telemarketer
I get phone calls and emails EVERY DAY from people who want to sell me things. One company has a sure-fire method for turning expired listings into a steady stream of income. Another company sells a widget-gizmo I can add to my website which is sure to generate more leads than I can handle. A third company offers a direct mail campaign which promises to create an avalanche of business for me.
It sounds like this real estate thing is pretty easy; all I have to do is start writing checks!
Whenever I hear these kinds of claims, I always ask myself 3 questions:
What would happen if all of my competitors bought this product/item/service? Would it still work? If dozens of realtors called on expired listings and all used the same technique, wouldn’t that technique become less effective? If every realtor’s website had the same widget-gizmo on it, wouldn’t that too become less effective?
If the product becomes less effective when more people use it, then it’s probably not the product I want to build my business around.
If this company’s product is so great, why haven’t I heard about it before? I’m pretty plugged in to what’s going on out there. Why do they have to pay a telemarketer, whom I’m sure is getting paid a large commission from the inflated price they’re charging me, to call me?
Really good ideas - the ones that translate to different agents in different markets - have a way of spreading all on their own.. Especially in today’s age of real estate blogging!
Does it really make sense, from a gut-level feeling? (are we building a win-win relationship?) Are all the expired listings out there just waiting to hear from me, as opposed to any other realtor? Is one little piece added to my website going to make a world of difference? Will it suddenly drive more traffic to my site, or help me convert more traffic into prospects if I already have a lot of traffic?
It’s easy to get excited about the product while the salesrep is on the phone. But when I hang up the phone and try to explain the product to my wife, I usually get the look reserved for people who aren’t very smart!
| * Harvest Point * |
If a product is valuable regardless of how many of my competitors are using it, AND there’s a good reason why I’ve never heard about it before the telemarketer’s call, AND it makes sense from a gut-level feeling, it’s probably worth investing in. Unfortunately, not many products from telemarketers meet all 3 criteria…
Posted: September 26th, 2008 under Business Planning.